After banishing the snarky villain 'Chaos' to the human realm - he is unexpectedly sent hurtling back through time and space... and in the process awakens an ancient race of towering robot beings. They are known as the Archeans, and have been trapped in an ancient sleep - until now.

BAJO

With the power of the Archean robots, Chaos could potentially destroy Skylands for good! However... the Archeans aren't the only ancient race that was awakened in the storm... Giants! 'The first Skylanders' are also brought back into the world to uphold their duty of protecting Skylands and keeping the peace.

Let's do a quick recap of how Skylanders works for the spawnlings who didn't play the first one.

DARREN

Affirmative. Skylanders comes with this portal attachment that plugs into your console. You purchase additional figurines like these ones that each contain a small computer chip that stores all your character information. So, as you level each Skylander up, you can take the toy to your friend's houses and use it on their portal - all your character progress stays within the toy.

HEX

Yes, yes... it's all very clever. The problem was, when it came down to the actual gameplay - it was SUPER easy. The platforming was also quite restrictive... and the game was designed in such a way that you really needed to have lots of different types of Skylander figurines to access all the different areas in the game - and they're all at an additional cost.

BAJO

Right, so the question is - have they changed all that with this sequel? And the answer is - no. Not really. Gameplay is all pretty much identical to the last game besides a few minor additions - and the fact that this time you have new toys to buy - Giant Skylanders.

HEX

There are 8 different elements of Skylanders - Earth, Magic, Life, Water, Fire, Air, Undead and Tech - and this applies to the Giants as well. Each Skylander has its own set of abilities that you can upgrade with in-game gold, and amongst all the loot collecting there's also a whole host of hats to find that give your Skylander an added stat-boost. Since all your character info is stored in the figurine - anything you collected in the first game, will still be there in the second - including all your level progress, hats and abilities.

DARREN

The Giant Skylanders do look rather impressive when placed on the portal - with parts that light up different colours... The benefit of these Giants in the game include being stronger and more powerful - as well as being able to access certain areas smaller Skylanders cannot. They can smash through walls, and lift heavy rocks blocking the path to some treasure... or a hat.

BAJO

You know me, guys - I love hats. But some of these look a bit silly. And it just seems like such a poor excuse for a character upgrade. In the last game we really wanted to see some more detailed stat bonuses... and it seems like they haven't done anything to improve on that here. It's full of a lot of fairly useless bits and bobs - like cosmetic upgrades to your ship that are purely for show.

HEX

Another thing you'll encounter frequently throughout the game, is that certain elements of Skylander are stronger in certain zones. This is yet another way to promote the idea of having multiple Skylanders - rather than relying on just one or two. Likewise - certain areas can only be accessed by certain elements of Skylander.

BAJO

Yeah... and you'll often come across soul gems which unlock abilities for Skylanders you don't own. It seems that at every turn the game is telling you to go out and spend money on expanding your collection.

HEX

Given that we received quite a few Skylanders to review the game, we were able to access a lot of these areas. But in between using the right skylander for the right zone - and using your giant to smash through walls, or another element of skylander to access a treasure area.... you'll be doing a lot of swapping the toys on and off that portal and it gets a bit annoying.

BAJO

My biggest issue is that all the Skylanders move SO SLOWLY. Honestly... there's a really dated feel to this game as you plod around at a snails' pace smashing crates... there's nothing fluid or intuitive about it at all. And in co-op multiplayer being tied to each other with that annoying invisible cord will really get on your nerves.

HEX

And general movement is still awful. Invisible walls everywhere, you can't jump or fall off anything... I find it really frustrating. That said, there's still lots to smash and seek if you're a keen collector. The story is also pretty cool with some great production on the cut scenes - and some really funny dialogue from our old friends Flynn and Cali - who I was glad to see make a return. The voice acting is top-notch.

DARREN

I got very excited at the addition of levels that involved controlling the giant robot and firing its laser! These shooting sections were good for a bit of maniacal robot glee for a while... until I began to notice that these level sections were all repeated one after the other. The level design was virtually identical. Very lazy.

BAJO

Probably the only notable addition to this sequel are the Skystone mini-games. Throughout the game, you'll encounter instances where you can bargain your way out of a situation through a game called Skystones. This is kind of like a trading card game similar to Pokémon - where your soul stones have specific characters on them that you'll battle against an NPC's deck. Winning a round sees you adding another soul stone to your deck.

HEX

Yeah, those were cool. Also - my favourite part of the first Skylanders were the battle modes - and thankfully these all make a return with new maps and an additional mode called 'knock-out'. I especially love using the 'Hex' Skylander in the battle rounds - because when she wins, that announcer guy says 'HEX WINS' in that big booming voice, and then it chants my name!

BAJO

Yes, alright - snap out of it, Hex. Let's wrap this up... what did you think of it?

HEX

Overall - really disappointing, you guys. I know this game is a big hit with spawnlings, and as collectors of all kinds of figurines ourselves, we understand the appeal of these little guys. But the core gameplay is still so basic and uninteresting.

BAJO

I agree. Puzzles are too easy - combat is simple and there's little that will challenge you here beyond besting the challenge of owning enough Skylanders to access every part of this game. It's virtually the same game as the first one with some slightly bigger toys. I'm giving it 6 out of 10.